{4.5/5} “We’re the most cooperative species on the planet — is there anything you own that you built entirely with your own hands, from materials you extracted from nature all by yourself? And without that network of cooperation we’re as vulnerable as three-legged antelopes in lion territory.”

The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson, published in 2015

Affinities are groups of people who fit well together — according to InterAlia, the company who developed the tests. Adam joins the Affinity known as Tau, and it becomes his new family. The original scientist behind Affinities has foreseen difficulties for them and the rest of the world. Adam gets involved with a plan for Taus to influence events.

It’s about different ideas of how to find a group you can cooperate with, and what those groups might end up doing.

It’s fascinating speculation, and a great story — as always from Wilson. It won’t take you long to read, but it is thought provoking.